tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post8064274130266026270..comments2016-12-08T22:32:38.114-08:00Comments on Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher: I'm Not Sure This Is The Right Way To ActDarrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15730642770935985796noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-87488113984169523462013-01-15T22:52:38.365-08:002013-01-15T22:52:38.365-08:00This may be a doule post . . . but Mark, I wouldn&...This may be a doule post . . . but Mark, I wouldn&#39;t. Parents can still complain about teachers but there are two types they tend to complain about: the incompetent, who I guarantee you the rest of the staff knows about, and those with really tough standards . . .who wind up being among the best teachers. Parents&#39; interests are geared towards grades . . .not necessarily learning. I know that they sometimes get it right, but they do so for the ones who would get the same result as my system. I know that&#39;s an undoubtedly unsatisfying answer, but I&#39;m guessing Darren agrees . . .at least mostly.<br />maxutilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11294262473781967372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-86460812193409962652013-01-14T16:00:15.494-08:002013-01-14T16:00:15.494-08:00Max,
Would you be willing to have the parents vot...Max,<br /><br />Would you be willing to have the parents vote?<br /><br />-Mark RouloAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-4615894748245958462013-01-14T12:33:08.839-08:002013-01-14T12:33:08.839-08:00&quot;laws should be followed until they&#39;re ov...&quot;laws should be followed until they&#39;re overturned&quot;<br /><br />But doesn&#39;t it usually work this way:<br /><br />Laws aren&#39;t usually overturned unless people break them. Then we get discussion, deliberation, and action. <br /><br />And sometimes the law doesn&#39;t get changed and the lawbreakers pay the penalty. Perry Masonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-46036955914050554922013-01-14T12:32:59.042-08:002013-01-14T12:32:59.042-08:00It&#39;s almost funny watching you try desperately...It&#39;s almost funny watching you try desperately to avoid having to come to terms with the fact of differing degrees of teaching skill. <br /><br />&quot;Almost&quot; because of what it indicates and that&#39;s that until fairly recently teaching skill was entirely irrelevant within the public education system. Everyone on your staff might know who the lousy teachers were but so what? It&#39;s not like the district was going to do anything about it and it&#39;s not like it made a bit of difference with regard to pay or pretty much anything.<br /><br />That&#39;s why you can&#39;t write four sentences about the concept of teaching skill without swerving off into excuses for lousy teachers and the lousy system that employs them.allen (in Michigan)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-29634347186072929972013-01-14T10:47:07.588-08:002013-01-14T10:47:07.588-08:00My idea would be less popular, and less enforceabl...My idea would be less popular, and less enforceable . . . but I&#39;d have the teaching staff vote. Everyone on my staff knew who the couple of bad teachers we had were. Good teachers don&#39;t always result in good results for the kids . . .all they can do is try really hard. The single greatest component in a child&#39;s education is the parent -- and you don&#39;t hire those. maxutilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11294262473781967372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-4057260069039412722013-01-13T19:45:20.779-08:002013-01-13T19:45:20.779-08:00So max, how do you propose to tell the good teache...So max, how do you propose to tell the good teachers from the bad? If you don&#39;t like test then what do you like? <br /><br />You <i>are</i> willing to stipulate to the fact that some teachers are better at teaching then others so wouldn&#39;t it be worthwhile, if you&#39;re interested in educating kids, to figure out which teachers did a good job of educating them and which teachers did a lousy job?allen (in Michigan)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-55332489363764878952013-01-13T13:39:49.341-08:002013-01-13T13:39:49.341-08:00Unions regularly oppose standardized tests, given ...Unions regularly oppose standardized tests, given that they are ineffectual and generally poorly designed. In this case, it sounds like they unilaterally imposed a provision to the evaluation process, based on nothing. Unless you make a standardized test be important to the students, there is no way it should be used to judge teachers. I think they are behaving entirely appropriately.<br />maxutilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11294262473781967372noreply@blogger.com